Warrior of the Forgotten Kingdom
by H4mmond
Summary: Hammond, the Fifth Kingdom of Remnant, lost to time and minds of the world. However, after acquiring new intel, they send their best to Beacon to get what they need. This warrior has been looking for someone, and finds her at Beacon. Hellbent on destroying the enemy, Hammond thrusts itself into another war and the warrior hopes to save the one he loves. (OCxCinder)
1. Welcome to Beacon

**An idea I had while sitting through class today, I give you my next fanfic. Which is totally opposite of the other RWBY fanfic I wrote (And if you care for RWBY at all, you won't read it. Please don't).**

 _The Fifth Kingdom, hidden from the world of Remnant. Hammond, sheltered from Grimm and human affairs. Since it was on the Island to the north, and a bit east of Atlas, it lacked Grimm. The Kingdom, like Atlas, prospered thanks to this. However, it didn't busy itself on trying to destroy the Grimm, nor did it step in to deal with Remnant's ever changing political field. It simply just didn't do anything. The Kingdom was never mentioned in the Great War or any of the legends of the past. Forgotten to time, and to all minds in Remnant save a few, the Hammond Kingdom progressed to a level of technology that would surpass Atlas. However, the government decided to make a surprise appearance to the world. In light of new info, they sent their best warrior in training to the prestigious academy of Beacon. What happens next in anyone's guess._

 _At least to those who aren't in Hammond's borders._

 **Ozpin's office**

Professor Ozpin sat in his office, reading an email on his screen. He read it over and over again, in disbelief. A student was being sent to his school from an unknown source. Apparently, his 'Eyes' had found a promising student during his travels. The person in question was found fighting off multiple Grimm Alphas in a field, and had killed off others from what he had read. Ozpin rubbed his chin, unsure of what to do. He knew his enemy, the Queen, was already prepping her next move. A person who had killed many Alphas was his next best thing for a defense. Ozpin had some great students already, like the "Invincible" Pyrrha Nikos and the prodigy Ruby Rose, one more couldn't hurt. He responded to the email, saying to his 'Eyes' to bring the person to him.

 **Sometime after the First episode of Volume 2, Arena**

"Students, today I would like to introduce you to our newest student. Due to some special circumstances, he will have his initiation here in the arena." Glynda Goodwitch announced to the class of First years in the room. The individual teams started talking amongst each other. A new student? They all wondered what he was like. Was he strong? What was his weapon? His semblance? Questions arose, but they were all silenced by Glynda in an instant.

"Now, why don't you come on out?" She asked out loud, then turning to her left. Boots were heard hitting the arena.

(Que **Kamikaze** by Eminem)

The student was wearing black boots, grey pants with metal pauldrons, a black long-sleeve with a grey chest piece, which had an double headed eagle on it holding a Hammond symbol, and had a scoped Spitfire on his back and a Wingman on his left side. He had some kind of device on both wrists, not giving anything away. He was pale, one eye was brown while the other was green, he had slightly messy brown hair, and stood at 6'5". He stopped at the center, looked around the arena, and stopped at Pyrrha Nikos.

(You can stop the song)

The new student wasn't sure how to proceed. The Headmaster had told him to challenge the most challenging person in the room, and right now he knew it was two people. One was Pyrrha Nikos, the other was the blonde male who was sitting next to her. He had heard he had large Aura reserves, but lacked skill. A tank if he learned to fight, a minor threat for now.

"This is Gio Heldrake, but he prefers Gio. He was picked up by Hunters who were passing through the area and found him surrounded by Alpha Grimm, and beating them badly. He has been cleared for a late and modified Initiation. So...who wants to fight him?" Glynda asked, everyone was unsure if they wanted to fight him. Gio, however, looked up at the stands, eyeing up the students. He saw threats, and absolute jokes compared to him. He needed a good fight, and he had a good choice in mind.

"I want him." Gio announced, pointing a one Mercury Black. Mercury looked slightly surprised, and looked towards his partner, Emerald, who gave the go. He stood up, staring down his opponent. Gio stared back, unfazed. Mercury reached the arena, and raised his fist into a combat stance. Gio did the same, and his wrist device started clicking. Glynda raised her riding crop, and quickly started the fight.

Gio ran at his opponent, and Mercury quickly fired off some shots at him. Gio smirked, and started to shimmer, and suddenly disappeared in a small flash. Mercury tilted his head, but he heard something behind him. He turned around, and was met with a fist to the face. Gio shook his hand slightly.

"Huh, a thick skull." He said, nonchalantly. Mercury shook of the punch, and fired off more shots. Gio quickly dodged them, then ran at Mercury. Behind him was a light blue trail following him. Gio had doubled his speed, landed a solid jump kick on Mercury. Mercury was surprised at the power, and he was having a hard time figuring out this dude's semblance. He needed a breather, but Gio wouldn't let him. Gio landed a right straight to Mercury's face, and did a spin kick to knock him away. Mercury landed on his side, hard. His aura was three fourths gone, he need to turn this around. Mercury jumped into the air, and fired off asm any shots as he could. When he landed, he turned ran to another position. Gio simply smiled, then pulled out the Spitfire, holding it in his right hand. His left hand grabbed the Wingman on his side, and aimed at Mercury. In an instant, he fired both guns at the same time. The Spitfire shot down Mercury's bullets while the Wingman shot down Mercury. The bullet hit Mercury right in the face, clotheslining him. He rolled a little, and stopped. His aura was past the threshold, and he was done.

The crowd was stunned, and had been the entire battle. JNPR stared at the new student, while WBY was the same. Ruby, however, was interested in his weapon combo. Where was his CQC weapon?

"Mr. Heldrake, I think you will do great things here. You have passed your initiation with flying colors." Glynda remarked. Gio nodded, and went to help Mercury up.

Mercury was trying to lift himself up, but he was having some trouble. He didn't notice Gio's hand stretched out, offering help, till he looked up. He grunted, but grabbed the hand nonetheless.

 **Later**

"So, he's proficient in fighting?" Ozpin asked. Glynda nodded, and handed him a tablet with a video of the fight loaded on the screen. Ozpin watched with interest. Few students could fight so gracefully, and with such power. Gio was a force to be reckoned with, if only they knew where he came from.

"My recommendation is we just keep him between Teams RWBY and JNPR. They seem proficient enough to stand with him." Glynda mentioned, Ozpin agreeing. He was interested in the armor the student was wearing. It was...familiar.

"What are you, Gio Heldrake?" He asked himself.

 **Dormitories**

Team RWBY and Team JNPR were standing outside their dorms, confused. Gio was with them, though he himself was not confused. The teams just had been briefed on how they would proceed with Gio. The teams weren't shocked, but found it odd. They didn't know what to do with Gio, but they were discussing it.

"I say we put him with JNPR. It would be weird if it was one boy with four girls." Weiss stated, with Ruby agreeing with her. However Yang wasn't as onboard.

"We can't let JNPR have him, then they would have a leg up on us in power!" She exclaimed.

"Yang, you just want to tease him!" Ruby shouted.

"Guys, keep it down! We can probably deal with this like civil people. I mean, the way we're doing this, we'll be up all night!" Jaune said, trying to calm the group down. Gio nodded, but this caught Yang's attention.

"I can go all night, if you want." Yang said seductively.

Gio's mouth formed half smile. "You have my attention." This caused Yang to raise an eyebrow.

"Okay, they cannot be in the same room together. EVER." Weiss ordered, the others agreed. It was then settled that Gio would stay in JNPR's room. Thankfully, Gio only had one suitcase and a backpack. He brought it into the room, and opened it. Inside it was sets of clothes and his Beacon uniform. In his backpack was a sleeping roll and a blanket. He set up the bed roll and blanket in a corner of the room, near Jaune's bed.

"All done, can I sleep now?" He asked the group. They all nodded, got ready for bed, and fell asleep.

 **Airbase Guardian, Kingdom of Hammond**

Airbase Guardian was stationed in the eastern part of the island. The base, as with the other three air bases, were built with the same layout as the first airbase, Airbase Sierra. That Airbase was in the main city, housing the main fleet. Airbase Guardian, however, housed the dispatch fleet. This fleet was smaller than the other fleets. It was made up of three Mega Carriers, six Battleships of the Malta class, eight Andromeda carriers, and eleven Draconis transports. However, these ships were preparing to defend against an evil the world had seen many times before. The world just didn't know it was coming. Hammond knew, and they were waiting. They had the details to derail them at every step. But the fleet was bored. How bored? Well…

"I'm just saying, Ronins should know martial arts! It would be wicked awesome!" A Hammond grunt said to his partner, who was pondering it.

"It would be cool, but could a Ronin handle it? Their chassis is pretty weak. That kind of movement might damage it while in battle. We don't have a way around it." The partner countered.

"True...but what if Scorch could make, like, huge BBQs? Like, base-wide huge! Just a couple flame cores in controlled directions and we all get well cooked meat!"

"Scorch uses thermite and caesium, dude. We can't eat stuff cooked in that. We'd die."

"Okay…"

"But what if Ion could charge the our electronics with one triple shot?"

"There you go! That's some thinking! But, it might overload our stuff."

"See, now you're thinking like me."

The two stopped, an Atlas was walking by. It was followed by a group of Spectres in formation, 3 rows of 15 robots. They were armed with either Volts, DMRs, or L-Stars. They passed, and the two continued to walk. They discussed other things, like what weapon was best used to counter Titans or how Ronin's would be destroyed when they phased into Titans but others would be killed when someone phased into them. They walked into a garage, where they found a mechanic working on a Paladin battle tank.

"Steve! How's that tank treating ya?" The idea grunt asked the mechanic.

"I tell ya Ryan, this thing is a bitch to me. I think the driver took it on a joyride on a path of jagged rocks and then tried to fight a Legion." Steve, the mechanic, responded. "How's life treating you two ground-pounders?"

"So-so. No combat yet, but we're still in the waiting phase of the plan. Apparently, the higher ups of our fleet are waiting on confirmation from the HQ to go to the next step of our plans. Though, it is still slow going-" Ryan started, but was interrupted by a scream and something shouting "Flame Core!" and a wall of thermite flowing from the left side of the garage.

"Oh boy, the Scorch is acting up again." The mechanic sighed.

 **The next day, Beacon Academy**

"So in conclusion, the Third Faunus War left us with the emotions and problems we face today. This war's outcome is the prime reason the White Fang…." Oobleck was dragging on and on about the Third Faunus War. Gio, who was trying to pay attention, sat bored in the back. Not only did he already know about the war, he had read sources on how human tactics had failed against the Faunus and how they had worked in other battles. Gio also knew how a Faunus group tried to invade Hammond, was coerced into surrendering without a casualty, and given a new life in Hammond. Gio sighed, he wished he could just be somewhere else. Instead, started to daydream.

He found himself in a forest, full of towering redwoods. While others would find this a predicament and would be lost, Gio was familiar with this forest. It was his girlfriend's favorite place to go when they snuck away from training. They had found a green patch of grass to lay on and cuddle, wasting the hours away until they needed to head back. Of course, Gio remembered exactly where it was. He walked to where it would be, and found her. She was sitting in the center, staring into the sky. Gio walked up behind her, and sat down. He tapped her shoulder, signalling that it was him, and wrapped his arms around. His girlfriend softly chuckled.

"It's good to see you again." She said to him. Gio smiled.

"It's good to see you again as well. How's the view?" Gio asked her, and at that she turned around to him.

"The view is nice, but looking at you is better." She said, softly kissing him. Of course, Gio wished it was real, but it wasn't. These dreams of her hadn't been real in two years. His girlfriend has disappeared two years ago. One minute, she was out on patrol, the next minute her squad went missing and she hadn't been seen since. Gio was torn up about it for months, but replaced his distraught feelings with urgency to find her. So when the opportunity to go search in Anima came up, he took it. Of course, he hadn't found her and was subsequently brought to Beacon in the process. He had searched everywhere and was on his way to Vale when he was ambushed. At least he got to Vale faster.

"Mr. Heldrake?"

Gio was shaken out of his daydream and thoughts by Oobleck. The professor did NOT look happy.

"Mr. Heldrake, while I am astounded by your high score on the History pre-test you took to get into this class, which only is only slightly lower than mine, I would still appreciate it if you would pay attention in my class." Oobleck stated, to which Gio nodded, as he apologized for his disrespect to his teacher and the interruption he caused. Oobleck took careful notice that Gio had apologized for those things without being told to and sounded sincere in his voice. His body language reflected it as well. Oobleck nodded, and went right back to the lesson. Gio was with him the entire time.

 **Lunch**

"Well, looks like someone was dreaming about something back there." Yang said playfully, causing Gio's attention to turn to her. "You were mumbling something back there. You dreaming about a girl or something?"

Gio smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know? Perhaps I was dreaming about you, what would you say to that?"

"I'd say good choice."

"Maybe I should tell you how I wished to-"

Weiss took that moment to slam her hands on the table, "Do not continue that thought!"

Gio and Yang turned to Weiss, and started laughing at her. Weiss realized that she had just implied that they were going to say dirty and lewd things, thus making her think about that stuff. She shrunk in defeat. Gio and Yang high-fived each other.

"Well, glad we get along great. I was kinda worried. You showed up all serious and _kicked_ the hell outta Mercury, you looked like trouble." Yang said, everyone groaning at the pun. "But you get along just fine with us. Except Ice Queen, you upset her really well."

"Hey!"

Gio turned back to Weiss, "My sincere apologies to you Weiss. I didn't mean to upset you."

Weiss saw his sincerity, and wondered how he could go from something akin to Yang's attitude to somewhere along the lines of being a gentleman. She sighed, and accepted his apology. Ruby and Nora missed the whole conversation, the two were (somehow) having a civilized conversation on the best way to destroy a Grimm Beowulf. Blake and Pyrrha were discussing something, and turned to Jaune, asking him something. He nodded, and the three turned to Gio.

"Gio, what is your goal here?" Pyrrha asked. New students were a huge rarity in Hunter Academies. They had to be skilled and usually had a goal in life. Gio turned to her, his eyes searching her for anything that could hurt him later on with what he was about to tell her.

"I'm searching for my girlfriend. She disappeared from my life two years ago, and I have been searching since. Either for answers and closure or for her current position. My negativity appears to attract Grimm easily, so I was ambushed by Alpha Grimm of all varieties on my way here." Gio explained, causing everyone's jaw drop at this. "I defeated them, but I was found and brought here. It was stroke of good luck, I guess. I was coming here next to search anyway."

Pyrrha was shocked, this boy lost his girlfriend to unknown causes, searched for two years, and had probably defeated multitudes of Grimm while doing it. He was beyond skilled, he was Hunter level pro. He probably surpassed her in skill. Blake was worried his girlfriend was killed by the White Fang, two years ago they had killed a patrol in southern Anima. Jaune was saddened by the story. If Gio attracted Grimm, he probably had a hard two years searching and fighting. Yet, he was empty-handed with his results. The others had similar reactions as Jaune.

Gio realized he had been staring at the table, so he looked up at the others. He quickly realized he had killed the mood. "Hey now, it's alright. Y'all seem to have alleviated to negativity, so it's not bad, right?"

This perked everyone up, and they realized he was right. Gio hadn't been negative while they were all together, so they started laughing and joking again. Gio smiled, this was almost as good as his time during training.

 **Later**

Gio was walking back to JNPR's room when he almost ran into a trio walking along the halls. He stopped, and went to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I-" He stopped. Right in front of him.

"You!" Mercury shouted, Gio paid no attention to him. Right in front of him. It was…

"You are quite alright, I'm sure it was an accident." The girl in front of him said, smiling at him. Gio was flustered, but quickly regaining his composure.

"Perhaps it was, either way it was mistake of mine. I should've been more aware of my surroundings." Gio apologized. "Though, you do look familiar. Have we met?"

"Funny, I could say the same about you. Perhaps we should meet up later, talk about this more?" the girl asked.

"I would like that, perhaps we could meet at a coffee shop in Vale. If I could get your Scroll number, I would gladly text you a date and time."

The girl nodded, giving the number. Gio gave his to her.

"And may I ask who this, for the contact number, of course." the girl asked.

"My name is Gio Heldrake." Gio said, this caused the girl to raise an eyebrow.

 _Could it be...no, Salem said he died._ "Very well, I am Cinder Fall, in case you were wondering."

Gio nodded, and thanked her for understanding his accident for running into her. The two bid farewell, and departed to their rooms.

 **With Cinder**

"Ma'am, who was that?" Emerald asked. Before Cinder could answer, Mercury, however, scoffed.

"He's the asshole who beat the shit outta me for an 'initiation' fight."

"Well, Mercury, it looks like you were probably very lucky he didn't kill you." Cinder said, "For your information Emerald, he is someone we could use. He's...very powerful." Cinder walked on, leaving a bewildered Emerald and Mercury. Cinder, however, was deep in thought.

 _So, who are you?_

 **With Gio**

Gio walked among the halls, his heart beating fast. He didn't show it, but he was happy. He had found her. His girlfriend, she was okay! While this would make him overjoyed, he was still slightly sad. He had sensed something inside her mind. A large amount of malice, and hatred. Gio knew two things. Cinder had fallen to Darkness, which was highly unlikely, or…

Gio opened his eyes in realization. He smiled darkly. He turned in the direction of where Cinder had walked.

 _So, what will you do?_

 **Short, and with Hammond still being plastered all over it. But I like this idea, and what will happen next? Stay tuned, next time: A Minor Hiccup Turned Major Ache!**


	2. Minor Hiccup to Major Headache

**A/N? Never heard of one.**

 **Beacon**

Gio was sitting on the edge of the fountain in Beacon's courtyard. He was looking into the sky, watching the Atlas ships in the sky. He sighed, almost depressed at the sight. When Weiss mentioned that the Atlas military was coming to defend Beacon, he imagined more than...this. Four ships, that was all that they could spare to defend the Academy. Atlas, the "forefront" of Remnant's military power, could only spare four battleships? Were they lacking so much that they possibly...no. They weren't lacking, so to speak.

They simply didn't have a competition. Of course, Gio already knew the minute Hammond walked back into the minds of Remnant, the Atlesian military would be obsolete. Again, that is if everything went to plan…

 **Intro Song!**

 **(Normal intro for RWBY S2 unless otherwise mentioned)**

 **There's a point where it tips, there's a point where it breaks.**

 **There's a point where it bends and a point we just can't take, anymore…**

 **There's a line that we'll cross and there's no return**

 **There's a time and a place no bridges left to burn**

 **Anymore!**

 **We can't just wait, with lives at stake, until they think we're ready (At the point where the individual teams flash on screen, The Hammond symbol is shown with Gio standing under it with Grunts and Spectres lined up similar to Atlas's segment, but Ogres stand at parade rest in the background)**

 **Our enemies are gathering**

 **The storm is growing deadly (Instead of the teams falling, Ogre and Atlas mechs fall instead, the landing animation taking the place of the original)**

 **Now it's time to say Goodbye**

 **To the things we love, and the innocence of youth**

 **How the time seemed to fly**

 **From our carefree lives**

 **And the solitude and peace we always knew!**

 **Beacon**

Gio rode up the elevator, he had been called up to see Ozpin. He assumed Ozpin was going to introduce him to...what was his name? Ironwood, Gio remembered. The General of the Atlesian Military. Interesting, that he would come here. Guess if you were going to defend a Kingdom, send the leader. Gio mentally recoiled, why was he complementing the Atlesians? Yesterday, he had been judging them in his mind. He shook his head, he probably should stop judging everything at face value. The elevator dinged, and Gio stepped out. Only to be met with a gun barrel pointed at his head.

 **Earlier**

Ironwood was just finishing up complementing Ozpin on how he had the cream of the crop for students. Ozpin raised his hand, waving the complements off.

"I do, perhaps, have another student that can probably amaze you." Ozpin offhandedly mentioned.

Ironwood raised an eyebrow, interested. Ozpin brought his Scroll, and played the video for Ironwood. He watched with interest. Until, he caught the symbol on Gio's chestplate. Ironwood's eyes widened. Ozpin mistook it for amazement.

"I have invited him here for you to see. I was wondering if you could see the symbol-"

 _Ding!_ The elevator doors opened. Ironwood pulled out his revolver and pointed it straight at Gio's face. Gio arched an eyebrow up, unfazed. "Nice to meet you too, General Ironwood."

"Don't even speak, Heldrake. I'm not dumb." Ironwood retorted. "What makes you think you can freely walk around a Hunter and Huntress Academy while you sport _that_ insignia?"

Gio looked down at his chest, the double eagle holding the Hammond symbol. "What do you know?"

"I know enough to tell you this. That symbol appears only in times of darkness. It appeared before the Great War, it appeared before each Faunus War, and now it appears again. So tell me, what is humanity going to have to fight now?" Ironwood questioned, or more accurately threatened to shoot if Gio didn't tell him.

Gio had been trained to deal with this. A small part of Remnant knew about the symbol, but they didn't know what it meant or who's it was. The symbol had, granted, appeared before each of the events Ironwood listed, but Hammond knew too late to help. So they didn't intervene. This led the mentioned small population to believe that the symbol would appear before times of crisis. So Hammond specialists had been trained to deal with situations like these.

"So General, never took you as a conspiracy theorists. You like tinfoil hats? They're not stylish or cool, you know?" Gio joked, causing Ozpin to chuckle softly in the background.

"Well, explain then!" Ironwood asked, pressing his barrel against the Gio's forehead.

"It means nothing. I found this chestplate on my travels. I heard about the symbol, so I painted it on my chestplate because I thought it looked cool." Gio explained, unfazed by the threat.

Ironwood pulled his gun away from Gio's forehead, holstering it. "Very well, I cannot apologize enough about my actions. I just, assumed you were a threat."

"I've gotten used to it. I almost got jumped once by a group of conspiracy nerds in Vacuo. Poor bastards didn't know what hit them." Gio smiled, and moved to attention. "General Ironwood, I am Gio Heldrake. I am a…first year?" Gio looked at Ozpin quizzically, who nodded. "Yes, a first year at Beacon Academy. I come from a far away village, hoping to complete my mission to become a Hunter." The last part was a lie, but Gio had made it simple enough and said it enough that it was easy to believe. Ironwood nodded, and put him at ease. They discussed many things, military strategies and various training exercises for new troops. Ironwood was pleasantly surprised at Gio's ability to strategize, while Gio now knew that while Atlas had good troop movements, they lacked the supplies to engage the Grimm head-on.

"Well, while I like that you two can hit it off on military topics real well, I do need for Mr. Heldrake to return to his studies." Ozpin interrupted. Gio nodded, and walked back to the elevator after waving goodbye to Ironwood. The doors closed, leaving the two Headmasters alone.

Ironwood turned back to Ozpin, "You think he and the others can win a war?"

"I hope they never have to." Ozpin replied.

 **Beacon Library**

"You got to meet General Ironwood, the leader of the most powerful and technologically advanced military in the world of Remnant, and you _weren't impressed?_ " Weiss asked, obviously shocked. The two teams and Gio were sitting in the library, RWBY was playing _Remnant: The Board Game_ while JNPR were doing their usual. Jaune was reading a comic, Pyrrha was watching RWBY play their game, Nora was sleeping, and Ren was reading a book. Gio was trying to watch the game, but was being questioned by Weiss about his meeting with Ozpin. Weiss ranted, quietly since they were in a library, about how one should be impressed by the General. He worked hard, and had a difficult job as both a General and a Headmaster at Atlas's Hunter and Huntress Academy. Gio deflected that while Atlas possessed a strong military, they lacked the numbers to effectively fight off a force with equal or more strength. Their strategies would be good enough to hold them off, but…

"Weiss, level with me here. Let's say, I don't know, the White Fang suddenly had the power to match Atlas in military strength. If they were to act like a 'true' military like you say Atlas does, would Atlas be able to defeat them? Even now, the White Fang doesn't match Atlas in strength or numbers, but their guerilla warfare tactics are almost elite in some cases." Gio explained.

"But Atlas has been beating them back, albeit a bit slowly, but still!" Weiss countered.

"Oh, is that so?" Gio turned to Blake. "Blake, I know you don't like talking about your past in the White Fang. But can you tell me how many times that your group managed to pull off a raid on an Atlesian compound?"

Blake turned to Gio. "I didn't participate in any, if that's what you're getting at."

"No, not at all. I am simply trying to prove a point to Ms. Schnee here."

"Well, Adam and a select few did manage to pull of raids, a few were at higher defended bases, but nothing dangerous like a major stronghold or a Naval Yard."

"And how large were these groups that Adam took?"

"About nine or ten people at the most, usually it was four or five."

Gio turned to Weiss. "So if a select few of those in the White Fang can pull off that, then what's to say that the White Fang isn't already stealing Atlas tech? The General either doesn't have an effective counter to these raids or he refused to tell me. I would personally hope, for your argument's sake Weiss, that it is the later. And to prove my point…" Gio nodded back to the board game. Weiss looked back as well, and found her military had been surrounded by Grimm and enemy forces. "...there it is in a nutshell."

Weiss's face was tinted red from anger, but Gio had made some valuable points. She surrendered her forces and the game. Gio went back to figuring out his Scroll, the damn thing was way too different from what Hammond had. While doing so, he looked up to see two guys standing in front of the table. Both were tanned, but one had blond hair while the other had blue hair.

"RWBY, JNPR, nice to see you guys and gals again." the blond said.

"Sun, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Blake responded.

"Oh, my friend and I were walking around the campus when we saw you guys here in the library." Sun explained.

The blue haired male raised his hand as a greeting. "'Sup, I'm Neptune." Gio gave a wave, introducing himself, the others gave their greetings as well. The pair joined the two teams, and they continued with their usual things.

 **Later in the Dorms**

"I can't believe Neptune beat me!" Yang exclaimed, furious about her loss. Ruby and Weiss were snickering about it still, while Blake was indifferent. JNPR followed close behind with Gio, who was holding the board game. They were walking back to their dorm rooms after leaving the library, Neptune and Sun had left to go do some other things around the campus. While the others were talking and joking, Gio couldn't help but notice that something was bothering Blake. He had made note that when he was talking about the White Fang, Blake had paid extra attention to him. Gio already knew from Yang that Blake was a former member of the White Fang, and he knew about the little 'battle' that had gone down a couple weeks before he arrived at the Vale dockyards. When the two teams reached their rooms, Gio pulled Blake aside.

"Blake, I am going to ask you something. It is totally up to you if you want to answer or not." Gio stated. Blake gave a nod, unsure of where this was going to go. "I want to know if you are still worrying about the White Fang's plans."

Blake looked away. She was, at first, unsure on how to answer. But if Gio was asking, did that mean he wanted to help? "I am, actually. I had always worried about their little raids after I left. But when the Dust raids started happening more and more, I got extremely worried. Now that I know that the White Fang is working with Torchwick, and targeting huge Dust shipments, I cannot stress enough on how this could mean something big is about to happen." Blake explained.

"I thought so. The White Fang has never needed this much Dust before, correct?"

"Yes, that's what is confusing me."

Gio suddenly went into deep thought, "Well, I can only assume, like you are right now. Maybe this warrants an investigation. No, it definitely does."

"I think so."

"Blake, talk to your team about it. They might not know the White Fang like you do, but they can help. I suggest you get them to get a plan together, and I will help anyway I can. But for now, I gotta go." Gio said, and with that he turned around.

"Where are you off to?" Blake asked.

Gio turned and smiled back at her. "I got a date with a certain Haven student."

 **Coffee Shop, somewhere in Vale**

Gio and Cinder were sitting outside a coffee shop. The two had already ordered and were waiting for said order at their table. Gio had arrived first, and Cinder a little bit after. Gio was wearing jeans, a red V-neck, sneakers, and had his wrist device with him. Cinder was wearing an outfit she deemed appropriate for the occasion, one that would leave her undiscovered by Goodwitch and Ozpin (It's her disguise from Volume 3).

"So, you came. I didn't expect you to come." Gio said, breaking the silence.

Cinder smiled in return. "I may seem like it, but I wouldn't stand up someone of your stature."

"Is that your way of saying I look handsome?"

"You could say that."

The waiter arrived with their drinks, Gio had opted for lemonade, while Cinder had ordered the same. The two thanked the waiter for their drinks.

"So, Cinder, may I ask why you have woven Dust into your clothes?" Gio said, taking a sip of his drink.

Cinder raised an eyebrow, surprised. "How did you know? People aren't able to notice that unless I make it known."

"I can sense when something is off when I talk to someone. I did the same when I was talking to General Ironwood, and I could tell his body has surgical implants and cybernetic parts make up part of his body."

"Intelligent, aren't you?"

"I try. But I would like to ask you something, if that is okay with you?"

"Go ahead."

Gio inhaled, then spoke. "Cinder Fall, you are part of Team CSMN of Haven. But my info tells me that your team members names are you, Emerald, Mercury, and a final person. That last person hasn't shown up yet, I presume. So tell me, how do you spell CSMN when you only have C and M?"

Cinder was impressed, this Hunter in training was smart. She had to be careful on how she answered, or he might figure out that they weren't the real Team CSMN. "Emerald's last name is Sustrai, so to spell the name we use her last name. The last person on our team, Noir, hasn't arrived yet due to familial problems."

Gio nodded, "Well, the last name thing is a bit unorthodox in this day and age, but not totally rare. My condolences for Noir, I hope everything is okay."

The whole thing was a bluffing match. Cinder wasn't really CSMN, and Gio wasn't buying her bluff. He also already knew who Noir was, but chose not to dwell on it. The two moved onto another topic, but something caught both of their eyes. The street they were on had a highway bridge on it, and on it a motorcycle sped across it. A giant mech ran behind it, chasing the motorist.

"Shouldn't we help with that? We are hunters after all." Cinder asked Gio.

Gio just sipped his lemonade. "I believe that is my team, they can handle themselves. Besides…" Gio started, and was interrupted by a pair of burglars making a presence inside the coffee shop. "We might be needed here." The two stood up, burglars were nothing compared to what the two usually fought. Gio's device started to make noises, an Cinder's hands glowed.

Inside the shop, people were cowering under the tables. The burglars were holding sawed-off shotguns. "Everyone stays on the ground, no one calls the cops and we all live!" One shouted, the other was getting the cash.

"Well, interesting choice of words." The two turned to see Cinder with a fireball in her hand, and Gio with two electric swords protruding from his wrist devices. "You learn that from a crime flick?"

"Who the hell are you?" The burglar asked. His shotgun aimed at the two.

"That isn't important, but I will tell you we are Hunters in training." Gio stated, and with that, the two charged at the burglars. They fired, but Gio dodged the shot. He slashed at one of the burglars, while Cinder burnt the other's shotgun. She summoned two swords, and began to fight slash at him as well. Gio kicked his burglar out a window, while Cinder pushed hers up against a wall with one of her swords pressed against his neck. He passed out, and fell to the floor. Cinder walked away, returning to Gio's side. She dispelled her swords, and Gio retracted his. The two looked towards each other, nodded, and left. Gio dropped 5 white lien on a nearby table, and exited the scene.

 **Beacon Dorms**

"Blake, when I said make a plan, I didn't mean cause some property damage and fight a giant mech." Gio said as he sat in RWBY's room. He wanted info on what had happened, and they had told him what went down. Gio nodded at the info, and motioned Blake to come with him. The two walked out of the dorm room and into the hallway.

"Blake, before you say anything, let me say this. I am sorry." Gio started.

"Why are you apologizing?" Blake asked.

"Because I'm sorry that the organization you believed in has taken such a dark turn."

Blake was surprised. "What-"

"Blake, I have read a lot about the White Fang. I know what they used to stand for, and how they did it. It may have not worked, but it's better than what they do now."

"You seem to be very knowledgeable of the White Fang."

"Then I'm going to jump right into it. The White Fang are getting ready for an attack. But there is one thing I need you to do for me."

"What's that?"

"I need you to not worry about it. I will handle it. Blake, I am serious. If I know anything about this, it's how to handle this situation."

Blake stared at Gio, trying to figure out what he meant by that. "You swear that you will handle it?"

Gio crossed his heart, and struck his chestplate, where the Hammond Aquila was. "I swear on the Aquila."

 **So that's a lot of words. Yeah, we're getting into the thick of it now.**

 **Next Time: Extracurricular Infiltration**


	3. Extracirricular to Infiltration

Gio watched, in humor, as Pyrrha absolutely destroyed a first year team. He barely remembered the team's name. CRDL, wasn't it? He didn't really care. He watched Pyrrha suplex the leader, ending the fight. Gio nodded to her, she was a great fighter. Glynda complimented her as well, and she moved her out of the arena. Gio nodded again, and looked towards Mercury, who looked to be deciding what to do.

Before the class had started, Gio mentioned to Glynda that he had 'overheard' Mercury tell his partner that he was going to fight Pyrrha today in class. Gio casually mentioned that Mercury would be destroyed in the fight, to which Glynda reprimanded him for that. In the end, Gio justified it by saying Mercury's team leader didn't want him fighting Pyrrha, and Glynda believed him.

"Alright, I think we have enough time for one more fight. Heldrake, why don't you come down. Belladonna, you too." Glynda announced. Gio shrugged, and walked down to the arena. Blake did the same. The two went the the locker rooms on either side. Gio testing his wrist swords and his other devices. He made sure his LMG was loaded, and his Wingman's safety was off. He walked out, Blake was already waiting. Gio had read up on her, and the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR. Blake's semblance was the ability to make clones of herself. They were indistinguishable from the real Blake, but they dispersed when they were hit. How they dispersed depended on what dust Blake used. Gio knew that she could make them freeze or explode, but wasn't sure of much else beyond that. The two got into fighting stances, and Glynda signalled them to begin.

Blake rushed Gio, who fired off his Wingman. The bullet hit Blake, but she had used a clone as a shield and jumped at the last second. Gio realized that the clones were going to be annoying, so he tapped his left wrist device, which put a Sonar knife into his left hand. Gio switched it to his right hand, spun the knife so that he was holding the blade, and threw it at Blake. Blake had landed to the right of Gio, and swiftly dodged the knife. It embedded itself into the wall, and went to work. Blake didn't notice, since Gio had modified it to not make an audible noise. Gio's vision went blue, and he could see Blake at all times. Gio summoned a small disk from his right wrist device and threw it on the ground. It emitted a Amp wall, and Gio pulled out his Spitfire. He fired, the bullets getting amped. Blake summoned her clone, and went in two different directions. Gio pulled his Wingman out, and aimed at the clone with his left hand, and fired. Blake smirked, thinking she had the upper hand.

Till she was hit with around twenty amped Spitfire bullets, killing her aura. She fell to her knees, conceding the fight. Gio put his weapons away, and went to help Blake up. He had been hit with the same thing before, and it was painful as hell. Glynda nodded, slightly impressed with what she saw. Gio brought Blake back to her team, and the lesson ended. Glynda dismissed them, and the teams left.

Outside, Gio was with JNPR, RWBY, and, now that they were all here, SSSN. Gio half listened to the teams talk about the upcoming dance, though when they mentioned that it was the weekend, Gio turned to the teams. This weekend, something was going down according to Headquarters. He walked around to where the guys were standing, since the girls had split off to decide where they were getting their dresses. The guys of the teams, (Gio, Jaune, Ren, and SSSN) started discussing who they were going to ask out.

"I think I might ask Weiss, though I know for sure Sun is going to ask Blake." Neptune stated, Jaune looking slightly down at that statement.

Gio put his arm around Jaune. "Dude, I think you should ask Pyrrha. It's obvious she's into you."

Jaune looked at Gio, shocked. "Me?! She wouldn't even give me the time of day-"

"Jaune, you have been training with her all this time, correct?" Gio asked.

"Yes."

"So she obviously will give you the time of day to train her leader. You asking her to the dance would be fine with her. I see the way she stares at you, she's obviously is crazy for you."

"But-"

"Dude, I have a better chance of bringing a hostile army to this planet, destroying two Kingdoms and planning a land invasion of a third, defeating the Grimm, and justifying a genocide on this planet than your chances at getting a no from Pyrrha about the dance."

"What?"

 **Meanwhile in RWBY: The Hammond Menace**

Major General Allen March sneezed, and wondered who the hell was talking about him.

 **Back to our story…**

"Don't worry about that, just ask her out, be confident in it. Trust me when I say this, you have no chance with Weiss."

"Okay, I'll do it." Jaune accepted, and Gio turned to Ren.

"Ren, just ask Nora, don't care how you do it." Gio deadpanned, with Ren giving a thumbs up.

Scarlet and Sage stared at Gio, mouths hanging at what they had just saw. They got in front of him, and pleaded for help on asking a girl out. Gio didn't know what to say, while the SN of SSSN laughed at the scene. Gio couldn't do anything, so he recommended they find someone at the dance.

"Wait, Gio who are you asking to the dance?" Sun asked, the rest of the guys looked at him questioningly. Gio raised his hands in surrender, saying he had a plan.

 **Later**

Gio and Cinder sat at the fountain, staring at the sky, which was full of Atlas vessels. The two had decided to meet up after their 'date' at the coffee shop. They had talked for a little bit after they met up, but an Atlas fighter had roared over them, and the two had watched it fly away. Cinder kept looking up at the sky, and Gio did too. He turned to her, and asked her a question.

"I've seen that look before, you don't think they can defend the Kingdom too, right?" He asked.

Cinder turned to Gio, albeit a little shocked. "I don't think I have ever heard someone doubt the Atlas military before. But yes, I was thinking that. I think the Grimm could easily overwhelm them. Why do you doubt?"

"I doubt them because they brought a small force. The Atlas military has many Airships, but bringing four, and now they're bring another four, totalling at eight airships, isn't enough in my opinion."

"How so?"

"Most of those airships will focus on evac efforts, leaving maybe two or three for air combat. One goes down, and the other one or two are toast for flying Grimm. Though I suspect that Atlas doesn't expect a battle to happen, thus the light protection."

"But eight airships is quite the force still. I would expect their to be at least heavy Grimm casualties if there is an invasion."

"Maybe a force, but now the airspace full, four is good for airspace, but doubling the ships doesn't mean a better force. It means a more crowded space and a less efficient force, thus it's weaker. Friendly fire is likely, but that's just my speculations."

Cinder tilted her head, her whole body now facing Gio. She was confused on why someone would doubt the Atlesian military, but was glad someone shared her thoughts on Atlas's strategy. "So, what do you want to do now?"

"Well, there is something I wanted to ask you." Gio stated, sounding a bit nervous.

"What's that?"

"Well, the dance is this weekend, and I was wondering you wanted to go to it with me."

Cinder smiled slightly, "You know, I think I will. It's nice to see someone like you, who shares the same thoughts as someone like me." At that, Cinder got a little closer to Gio. "You know, you remind me of someone I used to know. He was a lot like you. He could be critical of things one moment, and be the most caring person in the world the next."

Gio smiled, "What happened to this person?"

"I was told he died, a horrible accident happened to him. Apparently caused by Hunters."

"Hunters?"

"Ex-Hunters, he had been falsely accused of a crime and was hunted down. He tried to explain and they shot him. The Hunters were discharged, but I always wanted revenge."

Gio was mentally laughing his ass off. That lie was so easy to see through. How did Cinder fall for that? "So why are you becoming a Huntress if you know what happened to your friend?"

Cinder shrugged, "It was a dream of mine when I was younger, now I'm just doing to see what caused those Hunters to kill him." She looked down, unsure of what exactly to say.

At this, Gio put his fingers to her chin, and lifted her face to his. "Cinder, whatever it is, you do you. I will support you in whatever way I can."

Cinder smiled, "You are way too much like him. I like that." She moved closer to Gio, wrapping her arms around, and kissed him.

 **The next morning**

Gio walked into the Beacon Ballroom, watching Team RWBY work on the dance decorations. Gio had been asked to help, but he was merely passing through. He waved to Blake, who was happily helping Weiss pick out a color for the napkins. Gio left, and kept walking to where the Bullheads were stored. He looked inside the giant hangar, watching the mechanics work on the ships. Gio walked up to one who looked like the head mechanic.

" Hello, you wouldn't have had a package dropped off here recently?" Gio asked.

The mechanic turned around, "Yeah, we put it in the back. Was it yours?"

"Yeah. Sorry about that, I had asked for to be delivered to my room, but it ended up here."

"No worries, just go get it and get outta here."

Gio nodded, and went to the back. In the back was a crate, marked with his name and address. Gio opened the top, and inside it was what looked to be a tangled mess of black metal. Gio took it out and put it on the floor. He took off his chestplate, and picked up the metal mess, which quickly attacked to Gio's upper torso. It fitted to his body, and the back formed two Acolyte pods appeared on his back, folded down to lay vertically to his back. Two mantis-like ones formed onto his shoulders, which he knew were Northstar's missile pods. They folded alongside the Acolyte pods. The exosuit then stretched down to his legs, and formed legs guards. Two small jets also formed on the small of his back, with another two on the sides of his legs. Gio grinned, the modifications had worked. If what was going to happen did indeed occur, then the exosuit was a must for his plan. He put his chestplate back on, and the exosuit turned invisible. Gio walked out, leaving the opened crate where it was. Inside of the crate, was a small beacon sending out a inaudible ping to its receiver.

 **Night of the dance**

Gio stood by the ballroom, waiting outside for Cinder. He made sure the exosuit was ready, and hoped everything went according to plan. He adjusted his tie again, and felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see it was Cinder in a black elegant dress, (I can't describe it very well, it's the one from S2 EP7) which Gio thought suited her nicely. Gio held his hand up, which Cinder took, and they walked in. The two walked into the ballroom, and were more or less impressed at what RWBY had done to decorate. Gio did make a comment on how it seemed to centered around the color white, to which Cinder agreed with. The sat at a table, discussing random topics for a little bit. Of course, Cinder excused herself to go deal with something.

Right on schedule.

The minute she was out of sight, Gio activated his cloaking and left the dance hall. He disappeared to behind the building, and reappeared. He changed into his armor, and left for the CCT.

 **CCT**

Cinder was riding her way up to the computer room of the CCT. She had already dealt with the guards, they were easy. She arrived at the top, and walked out of the elevator. She made her way to the main computer, and inserted a USB drive into it. She started the download, putting the virus onto the main CCT system. As she was finishing up, she heard an elevator ding, and one Ruby Rose stepped out. Cinder grimaced slightly, thankfully this was a minor snag, but she would deal with it. As she went to reveal herself, a figure crashed through the window and landed on top of Ruby. The figure got up, and turned to Cinder. The eyes of the figure were pure red, similar to a Grimm's eyes. It wore armor similar to a Hammond Grunt, but was painted black and the helmet was red. Cinder backed up, unsure of how to proceed. The figure tilted its head, and from behind it appeared a single missile rack. Cinder's eyes widened, and the missiles fired off. Cinder jumped away from the explosions, doing so by jumping out the window. Ruby did the same, except in the other direction. The computer room was destroyed, the figure the only one left in the flames. The siren was going crazy as flames engulfed the room. The figure suddenly went into cloaking, and left.

Cinder looked around, upset her plan just went sideways then completely south. She turned and jumped out a nearby window, and left the scene.

Gio, however, reappeared in his armor. He looked at the terminal he didn't destroy when he blew the room up, and found it still had the virus. His reached out his right hand, and a USB device shot into the computer's port. It instantly downloaded two things. First was an anti-virus to counter whatever Cinder had put into the CCT system, but discreetly enough to make it seem like she was still in control. The second was another virus, but it was built for Hammond's use. It would allow for Gio and Hammond High Command to have unlimited access to the CCT Mainframe, thus allowing for the 'Higher Ups' to get an easier view on what was going on in the world. Gio pulled out the USB, and turned to leave as well, until he saw Ruby unconscious on the floor. Gio picked her up, and leapt out of the inferno that was the terminal room.

Boy, was this going to be a story to tell the boys back home.

 **Review and Favorite. Also, I got back into playing Hearts of Iron IV. Note: A naval fleet of 100 H44-class battleships is very expensive and should not be created more than once.**

 **Unless you're me and already did it 5 times over. Ooops...**


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